A Dead Hedgehog's New Tricks
by thedraconicwerewolf
Summary: Someone has gone and killed Sonic. He now inhabits the world as a spirit. But he isn't just any kind of regular spirit, he's one who can interact with and manipulate objects. With this mew power, he intends to figure out for what purpose he was killed for and protect his friends from unknown dangers. In so doing, he has stepped into a plot that's bigger than he could ever imagine.
1. Life After Death

Hello everybody! This is a new story that I suddenly came up with after reading one of my reader's reviews who suggested on it that I do this. For now though, I will not disclose which game this is borrowing off of. Naturally, this is going to be in the Sonic world simply because you either found this in that section when searching for a story or saw that it derived from it in the story description. Either way, the moment you read this first chapter, you'll be able to figure out what I borrowed from provided you played or heard of it before.

Anyway, I hope that this story, which is also a mystery style like my other recent Sonic story, will pique your interest in wanting to read more of it as they continue to arrive hot off of the press. I still can't believe that I managed to come up with this concept all because I read another fellow reader's review suggesting it. Thanks to **swiftshadow123** for supplying me with this idea when I was running out of fresh ideas to write about. And just for the record, he only hinted that I write one with this style; I came up with the plot and all that.

And to those who have read my other Sonic mystery story, I'm not giving up on that. I'm just taking a small change of scenery after I accidentally got myself into a roadblock and continually forced it to be broken down and passable. As such, the idea well for that has been temporarily depleted and needs time to be reloaded.

For those who don't know how I write and would like to know, I only set up the beginning and ending for every new story that I create. It's a personal rule of mine so I know how to begin, which is very obvious and required, and how the story is going to end. That way, I can allow the entire middle section to be wild area that not even I know about with only the ending dictating how the middle portion of the story will be. Call me weird, but I don't like to think ahead beyond the ending when I write because I also like to be surprised with how the story will turn out.

Anyway, that's enough with my little rant that's starting to turn into senseless banter. I'll let you go ahead and start reading this new story of mine. Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto your next story so I'll know how I'm doing. Until the next update on this or one of my other stories everybody!**  
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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Life After Death<strong>

"_Wow, that must've been some nap I took,_" somebody thought as he felt himself begin to awake from his sleep. "_I never felt this dizzy since the last time I crashed for over ten hours. Boy, I hope Tails doesn't go down my throat because of this._"

As the person opened his eyes, he noticed that his surroundings were blurry. This was to be expected since he was just waking up from a nap. Once this faze had passed, he took a look at his surroundings and immediately became shocked at what he saw.

He was currently inside what looked to be a park that was situated at the end of a dead end street. Brick walls surrounded three sides of it with the fourth being the only way in and out. Playground structures for where kids could play and a seating area for people to congregate were clearly seen under the streetlamps illuminating the night sky. Except for a small building close by that was currently empty as indicated by the dark windows, there were no buildings within what was most likely a five minute walking distance. It was here at one of the corners of the wall that what made the person gasp in shock could be seen.

"_Wh-what the hell?_" he thought as he tried to comprehend the sight that was just a couple of feet away from him. A hedgehog with fur as blue as the purest sapphire in the world was lying face-down on the ground. Collecting around his chest area was a pool of dark crimson liquid that was steadily growing bigger by the second. Standing over the presumably dead body was a person with a gun in his hand. Right in front of the person and kneeling down next to the fallen body was a two-tailed fox that looked to have been trying to revive the other and ignoring the danger in front of him.

"_B-b-but that can't be right!_" the person exclaimed as he absorbed the hellish sight before him. "_I'm right here behind this guy with a gun! How can I be there on the floor bleeding my life away if I'm here?_"

"Why did you do this?" the two tailed fox demanded angrily with eyes moistened by the beginning of tears as he whipped his head towards the gunman while still staying in his kneeling position. "What has he ever done to you?"

"It's not a matter of what he did to me that's the issue here," the gunman, a man wearing a plain white coat and simple blue jeans, responded calmly as he brought his gun up and pointed it at the other. "He just happened to be around at the right time for me."

"And so you just wanted to kill the next random person you just happened to run into regardless of who they were?" the fox asked with a small sniffle leaving the back of his throat. It was clear he was either very angry or very brave to not be frightened by the presence of something that could potentially kill him.

"That's pretty much the gist of it, boy," the man responded with a hint of regret to his words as he brushed at his long red hair with his free hand. "Unfortunately, I didn't expect for you to come by and become a witness to this unfortunate event. As much as I don't want to do this, I'm afraid I'll have to be stealing away another life tonight."

"Figures that you would do that. You want to get away with this as clean as you possibly can. Its people like you that…"

Suddenly, both the gunman and fox and everything else around them seemed to have gained a sort of discoloration to them. Also, both people stopped moving; the fox was still in his kneeling position with the angry face plastered on while the gunman still had his gun trained at him. The real odd thing about it was that even the leaves that had fallen off from a nearby tree seemed to be suspended in midair as if it were simply glued onto a canvas. It was almost as if time had stopped for everything around the only person who seemed to be aware about this strange phenomenon.

"_Wh-what the hell is going on here?_" the person exclaimed as he whipped his head left and right as if to see if what he was witnessing was real. "_Why did everything just up and stopped like that? This isn't natural!_"

"_Hmm, it looks like you woke up quicker than I anticipated,_" another voice suddenly said with idle curiosity. "_You truly are different from others that I've encountered. Most of them took at least a half a day after their death to come around. You must have an extraordinary will housed within your soul._"

"_Wh-who's there? Are you the one who did all this?_"

"_Humph, you sure are a direct hedgehog, aren't you?_" the mysterious voice said with a hint of amusement in his words. "_I suppose that only fits in with your overall character. Anyway, we don't have time to be discussing this. I believe that's your friend over in the land of the living who's about to be killed._"

"_Gah, I almost forgot about him because of this weirdness! I got to save him before it is too late and he ends up like me!_"

"_Hmm, you also seem to have all your memories intact. You really are a one-of-a-kind person. Anyway, I suggest that you don't worry about it right now. After all, I'm sure that you've noticed how time itself has stopped all around us._"

"_Why are you saying us? And where exactly are you?_"

"_We can worry about that little detail later. Right now, let me teach you something that will help you save your good friend from meeting the same ending as you._"

"_Uh, I don't know if you noticed this; but I'm dead here! How the hell am I going to be saving him without a body to call my own here?_"

"_Trust me; you're more than capable to perform such a miracle. I can tell that you have skills that not every freshly dead person can have. And don't worry about the time right now. It won't continue until I release us from the Spirit World._"

"_S-Spirit World? What the heck is that?_"

"_Look, I'll explain it to you later. Right now, I want you to look around where you are and tell me what you see._"

For the first time since all this weirdness started, the hedgehog took the advice of the mysterious voice and looked around the discolored and frozen area around him. It was then that he noticed something strange that he did not see before the world was normal. He saw a perfectly round circle flashing near where he was over what looked to be a discarded bike bell, which also happened to be a flashing circle just behind the gunman.

"_That, my good friend, is what we call here in the Spirit World cores,_" the mysterious voice began to explain. "_It is how spirits with powers like you and me get around. Think of it as how the living people use their legs to move from place to place._"

"_Okay, so I can travel between these weird flashing lights,_" the spirit of the hedgehog said with a low growl at how the other was being difficult in supplying a simple straight answer. "_How is that going to help me save my buddy in the real world?_"

"_Just hurry up and get there!_"

Thinking that arguing was getting him nowhere, the dead hedgehog decided to follow the advice in hopes that he would be able to get his answers quicker. He quickly ran towards the other bright light and waited for further instructions from the voice.

"_Alright, I'm going to unfreeze time and we'll see how things unfold,_" the voice stated once the deed was done. "_I'll tell you what to do next when the time comes around. Right now, just sit back and watch the scene unfold._"

And before the spirit hedgehog could say anything else in argument, he saw the world around him turn back to its original color, and everything began to move once more as if the temporary time freeze never occurred.

"…I just can't even begin to understand!" the two tailed fox finished off his sentence from before he was frozen. "You're nothing but a heartless man!"

"You couldn't possibly understand why I had to kill the hedgehog," the gunman said as he shook his head. "And I don't intend to spend all night explaining it to you. All you need to know is that I shot him for a very specific reason. And my specific reason for killing you is because you ran into me just as I was finishing up here. I suggest you start saying your prayers fox, because you're about to head in the same direction as that poor guy without any hopes of ever returning."

"_Ring the bell now!_" the mysterious voice suddenly said as the gunman pulled back on the hammer of his gun.

"_Wh-what do you…?_" the spirit of the dead hedgehog stuttered at the sudden command to do something, especially something that he should not be able to even do without the usage of a living and breathing body.

"_Just imagine yourself with a real body ringing the bell,_" the voice quickly explained as a low growl was heard coming from the cornered fox. "_Hurry, you only have a couple of seconds before he's killed!_"

Knowing that now was not the time to be arguing, he just decided to go along with it and imagined himself with a body and ringing the discarded bike bell. In the next second, he was surprised to actually hear the familiar dinging sound of a bell being rung. This, of course, equally surprised the two living people in the park.

"Wh-who's there?" the gunman shouted as he briefly turned his attention towards where he heard the bell ring.

With this small moment of distraction, the two tailed fox quickly got up from his kneeling position and shoved the man off to the side. Surprised at this, he fell forward and dropped his gun in the process. With this new opening, the fox began to run away from the scene in fear for his life. Unfortunately, he was not able to get even a yard away before a he felt a hand grab at his ankle and force him to also fall flat to the ground.

"Thought you could get the slip through me, huh?" the gunman growled out as he kept a firm grip on the other's ankle. "It'll take more than a weak distraction like that for you to escape from your deadly mistake!"

"_Good job, boy!_" the mysterious voice congratulated the spirit of the dead hedgehog as both of the living people took a few seconds regaining their breath from the suddenness of the past seconds. "_You managed to prolong the young fox's unfortunate demise by ever the slightest of seconds._"

"_But he's still basically in the same problem from earlier except now on the ground,_" the spirit pointed out as he felt like nothing had changed. "_He's still going to be killed soon._"

"_Not unless you try to do something else,_" the voice stated as it froze time once again and transported them into what he had earlier called the Spirit World. "_Take a look around and see where else you can wander off to._"

As instructed, he looked around his current perch on the bike bell and looked around to see what other cores were nearby. To his astonishment, he saw another core that was not there the last time they were in this tome-frozen world lying about a foot away from him. Still confused, he wandered towards it since there was not another core he could see.

"_I would suppose you're wondering why there's the sudden appearance of a new core when it wasn't there the last time,_" the voice voiced out the unspoken question hanging around the dead hedgehog's head. "_You see, as the situations around you change, so does the immediate surroundings from time to time. You're currently inhabiting the murderer's gun, which happened to be in his hands before you distracted him. He had since dropped it, and it has become accessible to you._"

"_So that's why this is now here,_" he thought as he tried to wrap his brain around all this. "_So cores are used as a means of transport for dead spirits like me, and they can change as situations in the real world change._"

"_That's exactly right! Now let's get back to the real world and see how things will turn out now._"

And just as quickly as it had came around, the time freeze disappeared and began to move along its normal course.

"Thought I'd at least give it a try," the two tailed fox groaned out as he looked behind him to see how his attacker was faring. "Did you really think I wouldn't try to go down without at least a fight?"

"I commend your attitude, but I'm afraid your luck's about to end here," the gunman said as he reached into his pocket with his free hand and pulled out what was clearly a knife. "I've got you anchored to the ground. All I have to do now is drag you down a bit and stab you in the back. Couldn't be any simpler than that."

"_Hurry and fire the gun!_" the mysterious voice commanded once again. "_I believe another distraction is in order here._"

Without arguing this time around, the hedgehog spirit did as he was told and discharged the gun. The result was a loud bang echoing throughout the empty park and street. This, in turn, caused the two on the ground to look around in shock.

"Wh-what's going on around here?" the murderer exclaimed as he looked off towards his gun where he suspected the gunshot to have come from. "How did my gun just go and discharge like that?"

Once again distracted by a sudden noise, the two tailed fox took advantage of it and kicked the knife out of the man's hand with his free foot. He then kicked the hand around his ankle off and quickly got up and ran away.

"Damn, you're not going to get away with this!" the man growled out in pain as he quickly picked up a large tree branch lying next to him. In one swift movement, he threw it like a boomerang at the retreating boy and caused him to trip and fall once again when it connected with the back of his legs.

"Crud!" he shouted out as he felt his body hit the ground for the second time in less than a minute. This time, he landed on another tree branch right over his stomach which then caused him to be momentarily stunned through lack of air.

"Ha, you honestly think that you can get away from me boy?" the gunman asked as he got to his feet and grabbed his gun before running to the fox just as he was regaining his breath. Once there, he brought his foot down on his back and kept him pinned to the ground with a never-breaking firm stance. "It should be clear by now that no matter how hard you try, you can't get away from me."

"_And he's on the ground again,_" the hedgehog spirit responded with a sigh at how they were simply repeating the same thing every time he did something. "_Boy, he must really have the worst of luck tonight._"

"_Regardless, you still managed to extend his life by a few more precious seconds,_" the voice stated in an attempt to show that his actions were of great importance. "_That alone is more than enough to give him a standing chance at living through this._"

"_By literally scraping by whatever seconds we can buy for him? That really doesn't sound like a good way for him to be saved. Anyway, I think I'm starting to get the hang of this now. Let me see what else I can do around here._"

"Alright, that's enough with all these distractions," the gunman said as he quickly took a clip of ammo from his pocket and loaded it into his empty gun. Once it was securely in it, he pointed it right at the fox's head. "Now it's time for you to die."

"_Crap, I can't go firing the gun again if I don't want him to be killed!_" the hedgehog spirit exclaimed as he began to panic again. "_Ghost buddy, take me to that Spirit World place again._"

"_Hmm, I'm afraid that you'll be in for a rather rude awakening. Nevertheless, I'll go ahead and let you see for yourself what I mean._"

With these cryptic words said, the world once again discolored and froze in place. Again, a couple of bright lights known as cores could be seen scattered around the park and near where the hedgehog's spirit was right now, which happened to still be in the murderer's gun. It was with this time that he began to search for another usable path that would lead him to another worthwhile distraction that would allow the other to escape.

"_That rock…!_" he exclaimed as his eyes rested on a core on the ground just towards the left of the fox and maybe a couple of feet out of his reach. From his position in the gun, he calculated that it was probably just a little over two yards away. "_If I can get there, then I'll be able to get it closer to him so he can smash that guy's foot off of him._"

"_Well, why don't you try heading off there instead of just thinking about it?_" the mysterious voice recommended in a tone that seemed to say that he knew something that the other did not.

With a raised eyebrow, the hedgehog spirit ran towards where the rock was. However, just as he was about to get a hold of the core, he felt something holding him back and just out of reach from it. It was almost as if someone had tied him down to the core he was currently on and not allowing him to get away.

"_Wh-what the hell is this?_" the spirit exclaimed as he tried to fight against the thing that was preventing his progression with no success. He continued on while grunting at the effort, "_Why can't I get to the next core? It's right there in front of me!_"

"_Oh, the restrictions of these ghostly tricks finally rear their ugly head. You see, you can only travel from core to core from certain distances. Every spirit who has this ability has different distances in which they are allowed to travel, and it appears that the distance between this core and the one you wish to go to are beyond your limitations._"

"_Then how can I get from here to that stupid rock?_"

"_Well, you can either go back to the real world and wait for your current core to move closer to it, or you find another core to travel to your intended core. However, I don't see any other cores to travel through, and I doubt that our murderer here is going to be moving anytime soon. In other words,_" the voice said in an amazingly calm voice, "_I'm afraid that you and your buddy there are basically screwed._"

"_B-b-b-but that can't be right!_" the hedgehog stuttered in shock as he turned to look at the still frozen form of his friend under the mercy of his soon-to-be murderer. "_There has to be something that I can do here!_"

"_The only thing that you can do here is to let time move on as normal and see how things turn out. And who knows? Maybe the person you're trying to save will be able to come up with something now that you've bought him a few more seconds of life with each bought time also bringing in different situations._"

Without waiting for another angered outburst from the hedgehog spirit, the world began to run on its normal course.

"And now, I'll give you the pleasure of seeing me kill you," the gunman said with a sense of sinister glee as he kicked the fox over to his back and stepped hard on his chest. He had inadvertently kicked him towards where the rock was, but it was still out of his reach by just a few measly inches. "Consider this an honor that you'll see the very moment of your death. Not many get to brace themselves for a death since they have no idea that it's coming."

"Gee, I suppose I should feel honored that you're doing this for me," the two tailed fox answered with heavy sarcasm dripping from his words. "Why is it then that I still hate you all the same?"

"Feel what you will, but I hope you'll gain the understanding on why I did this while you're in the afterlife. Now, while this interesting game of cat and mouse was fun, it's time to put an end to it. So long, and say hello to your friend if you happen to see him. Chances are, though, that you won't any time soon."

And before the two tailed fox could have a chance to ask what he was talking about, the sharp sound of a gun discharging was heard. In that very instant, the fox's head was pushed back into the ground ever so slightly, the result of a fast-moving bullet piercing straight through his skull and thus killing him in the process.

"Humph, now that takes care of all the loose ends here," the murderer said with a sigh as he walked back to where his knife was and picked it up. He then said before turning around and running away from the park, "I never imagined that such complications would've arisen from my seemingly simple plan."

Just as he was about to run by the now dead body of the fox with his gun still in his hands, time had frozen once again. He was now stuck mid-step of a run right next to his poor victim's body that has yet to collect a pool of blood from his fatal head wound.

"_N-no, this can't be!_" the hedgehog spirit whispered under his breath as he failed to notice time frozen around him. All he could comprehend now was his good friend when he was still alive was now like him, dead with no hope of coming back alive. "_H-he can't be dead. He just can't be dead! Why did it have to be Tails?_"

"_Hmm, this truly is a most unfortunate occurrence apart from your death tonight,_" the mysterious voice said in a calm voice that was a direct opposite of the other's near hysterical version. "_Then again, the situations revolving the new position you created just didn't have the tools necessary for you to prevent this. Truly a shame…_"

"_Then why didn't you help me out if you know how to do all these freaky ghost tricks?_" the hedgehog spirit shouted at the voice he had no idea as to where it was. "_You could've helped me to prevent all this from happening in the first place, but no; you just sat back on your butt telling me how to do all the dirty work._"

"_I'm sorry you feel that way, but you must understand that I have been a spirit with powers like this for a while now. Like with old living people, my powers aren't what they used to be anymore. It took a good amount of my waning strength to get here and meet you for when you were to be killed. Yes, I knew you were to be killed, but only because I overheard the plan being spoken of by this very person here._"

"_And you were just hoping that I would gain this rare gift of ghostly powers? Ha, a lot of good it did me here. I couldn't even save my best friend from being killed by the same person who ended up doing me in._"

"_Oh, I knew that you were going to obtain these powers. Before you ask, you can just hawk it to my sort of sixth sense to these things. And secondly,_" the voice continued on before the hedgehog spirit could have a chance to ask a question, "_what would you say if I told you that you're not done rescuing your friend yet? What if I told you that you still have time to rescue him from this sad fate?_"

"_Then I'd tell you to prove it._"

"_Very well then._ _I want you to take a closer look at the body of your recently deceased friend. Tell me what you see there._"

"_All I see is a different colored core coming from him… Wait a minute, what the hell is a core doing on him? I never saw one on him before, nor did I see one on this guy here._"

"_That's because these different colored cores only appear on those that have just died within the span of a day. You see, this core over his body is the very key to saving his life. If you want the full truth on what I mean, then I suggest that you make your way to that core. I'm sure that it's more than accessible from your current position._"

"_So you're saying that core is another way that I can save Tails, huh? If that's the case, then I'll take whatever chance I can get to get his life back on the right track and away from the dead scene._"

"_Ha, now that's the kind of confidence I liked to see when I watched you during your living days. Alright then; go ahead and approach that core. Don't worry; I'll help you with the process and explain things to you. For now, go ahead and initiate your abilities given to your soul upon your death._"

After regaining his composure a bit and hearing all of these enlightening news that brightened his previously darkened attitude, the spirit of the hedgehog made his move. He moved from the gun, which was less than a foot away from the fox's, whose name was now known to be Tails, to the core hovering over him. The moment he laid his hands on it, the world around him disappeared and morphed into basic empty space with nothing but bright flashing lights to keep him company.

"_Wh-what is this place?_" he stuttered, something that he had been doing for quite a bit since he figured out he was dead. "_It's like I just left the Earth and now just swimming aimlessly around in outer space._"

"_This is where your second chance to save this boy's life begins,_" the mysterious voice explained with a smile clear in his words. "_This is where another one of your ghost powers will get their chance to be used to your advantage. Welcome to the place that is only accessible through those that have died within the time limit of a day. I call it the Gateway Between Past and Present._"

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><p>Alright, for those of you who don't know what game I borrowed this from, I'll tell you. I got the idea, which I'll remind you all came from <strong>swiftshadow123<strong> initially, from a game called "Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective". Like the name of the game says, it has a sense of mystery that takes place while the main character is dead. For the sake of this story, things are going to be changed around a bit to my style.

To be perfectly honest, I don't know why I find it so easy to write these mystery style stories in the form of Sonic universe. I guess the characters present in it are all diverse enough that to pull off such a feat is more than possible. If I tried it with another like the Jak and Daxter universe for example, it'd have to be way too serious and not enough funnies to balance it out. With Sonic characters, they're diverse enough to keep the story on the main path while being able to throw in a couple of interesting curve balls at the same time.

Anyway, I hope you all ended up enjoying the first chapter of this new story as much as I had making it. I hope that you will all continue to read it as the new chapters are published. Until next time everybody!

P.S.,

For those of you wondering why I did not mentioned "the dead hedgehog's" name in the story, it's because I wanted to give it a sense of mystery without having to take up so much time delving into the formal intro stuff. That and I started out the story with a bang that left little to no time for such a thing. So if you feeling irked because you know who it is and that I'm refusing to say it now, don't review me about that. I intentionally did that for the sake of the story, not because I simply had a dumb moment and forgot about it altogether.


	2. Ghost Tricks of the Trade

Hello everybody! Here's a new chapter for you all to read. I hope that you all like it as much as I had writing it. After all, it is the chapter that will resolve the action that I have so dumped you all into the moment you started reading. Of course, the closure of this problem will only lead to a much bigger one for our main characters. Hope you end up liking the title for this chapter. It was kind of like a wheel of fortune them before and after. "Ghost Tricks" and "Tricks of the Trade". Just thought I'd try giving a slight play on words while also clearly stating the chapter's subject.

Just a little explanation about the story itself and how it's being written. The text that has been italicized stands for the spirit or spirits talking while normal text stands for the living people. Also, as I will give a little example of later in the story, when a spirit communicates with a living person, italicized will still stand for the spirit and regular for the living.

Anyway, now that that little explanation is over, I'll let you all go ahead and read this chapter to your heart's content. Don't forget to leave a review before you move onto your next story once you're done. Until the next update to any of my stories everybody!

P.S.,

Sorry to swiftshadow123 about that mistakes. I forgot that you said you were a girl on your home page. Didn't mean to say _he_ the entire time in the author's note from the last chapter.**  
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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Ghost Tricks of the Trade<br>**

"_This is where I'm going to be able to save Tails' life?_" the spirit of the blue hedgehog asked with raised eyebrows as he saw nothing but empty space occupied by small twinkling lights all around him. "_And what's so special about this freaky place that looks like it would a good resting place for a certain bat that I know?_"

"_It's special because it's only accessible to spirits with powers such as yours and the souls of the dead that happen to follow you here,_" the mysterious voice explained with the sound of slight humor at the other's disbelief at the situation. "_And as to how it will provide you with the means of saving your friend, I already said that this is a place I call the Gateway Between Past and Present. The name itself should provide you with the answer you seek. The answer's not too hard to come up with if you take a moment to think on it._"

"_So you're saying that this place is where I can actually go to the past and prevent this from ever happening?_" the hedgehog responded as the sight of realization came onto his face. "_That's perfect! It's just what I need to save him._"

"_I suggest that you listen to what I have to say before you do anything else,_" the voice warned. "_I've seen a few people with these powers that I call Ghost Tricks go traveling to the past to save a life. As far as I can tell, they all were only able to traverse to the maximum of four minutes before their dead victim's death._"

"_What? You're saying that I only get to go back four minutes before the time he's supposed to be killed? How am I supposed to pull off a miraculous freak of nature with that pitiful amount of time? That's just a bunch of crap!_"

"_Call it what you will, but that's apparently the rules for all spirits with these amazing powers. I must, however, consider you to be lucky because not everybody that I have run into with these powers can travel back in time like you._"

"_So I should be thankful that I'm even being given this chance. Wait a minute; what's that blue flame-thing over there?_" he changed subjects as he took notice of something apart from the normal surroundings.

"_I was wondering when you were going to notice that. That blue flame happens to be the spirit of your departed friend. The reason why you don't see his form is because the newly dead tend to have temporary amnesia about their selves and how they died,_" the mysterious voice quickly said in anticipation of an unspoken question. "_As such, they don't have a definite form to look upon until they wake up and remember who they are._"

"_How long does it usually take for the newly dead to wake up?_"

"_It varies from person to person; but I can say without a doubt that you're the only one I've seen to have woken up just literally seconds after your death. And you are the only one to have full awareness of who they were right after death. The only explanation I can come up with is that you must have a strong will housed within your very soul._"

"_Well, I do like to go with the side of justice whenever I can. Us regular people need to help the police in keeping the streets safe unless we want to live under constant fear of gang crimes and potential robberies._"

"_Hmm, now that I think on it, you never really did give me your name. Heck, you haven't even assumed your natural form yet._"

"_Really? I didn't notice. Sorry about that. The name's… Uh, I think it's…Sonic. …Yeah, it's Sonic Hedgehog! I don't know why my brain's fuzzy on it, but I'm sure that's my name now that I thought of it._"

"_Well, it's only natural that you still might be fuzzy on some details. It's nice to see that you finally assumed your rightful form, though._"

Hearing the voice say this, the spirit now identified to be Sonic looked down at himself and saw that he had indeed looked like his normal self. Then again, he did not notice that he was not in his original form in the first place, so there was no difference in his eyes. It was just as he was looking as his supposedly newly formed spirit body did he hear a groan coming from a voice he clearly remembered hearing.

"_Tails, you awake?_" Sonic asked as he rushed towards the flame's side.

"_Oh, my head…,_" Tails groaned out in a low tone. He then asked in a voice that changed to slight confusion, "_What're you doing here, Sonic?_"

"_Y-you remember me?_" the hedgehog spirit asked in an excited tone.

"_I couldn't possibly forget about you no matter how hard I tried,_" the fox responded as his normal form quickly took place of the spirit flame. He was busy rubbing the back of his head while in a seated position with his free hand keeping his body propped up. "_You leave too deep of an impression with all of your friends, you know?_"

"_My, isn't this interesting?_" the mysterious voice mused more to himself in intrigue. "_You also seem to have a strong sense of resolve around you to have regained your memories so quickly._"

"_Wh-who said that?_" the two tailed fox asked as he looked around to try and pinpoint the source of the sudden voice.

"_It's a bit of a long story, and it's one that I think is best to save for a later time. Right now, I think we should concentrate on saving your life._"

"_Hmm, that sounds like a good suggestion. Now, I want you to just simply concentrate on wanting to see the last four minutes of the dead person whose core you're currently inhabiting. In other words, concentrate on Tails' last four minutes of life._"

Before he could get interrupted by a question he knew was going to come from the two tailed fox, Sonic concentrated on wanting to witness that last four minutes of Tails' life before he was unfortunately killed. Suddenly, he felt the world around him start to turn in a slightly dizzying fashion and the dark and bright sparkled world began to blend into one. And just as quickly as the sight and feeling appeared, it disappeared and was replaced with the scenery that he knew was to be four minutes before Tails' death.

**_Dead-End Park – 9:49 p.m. – 4 Minutes Before Death_**

Suddenly, Sonic saw his entire eyesight become flooded with the scenery surrounding Tails in the four minutes before he was killed. It was almost as if he were watching a movie with the greatest 3D technology poured into it, yet he was able to witness it as if he were really there at that exact moment in time. He was able to see where he was and the area around him as easily as if he was alive.

Not even two seconds into this surreal experience, the sound of a gunshot took away from the feeling of amazement and replaced with a sense of anxiety. And as if on instinct, Past Tails started running towards the park where he had heard the gunshot. He soon arrived and saw the gunman with a still smoking gun in his hands and a freshly dead Sonic leaning against the wall in front of him.

"Sonic!" he was heard shouting as he ran straight to the fallen cobalt furred body and completely ignored the gunman in front of him. He did, however, managed to shove him out of the way, and this caused him to slightly lose his balance and accidentally kick a stray bike bell on the ground closer to the body.

The next thing that the dead cobalt hedgehog heard was something he remembered taking place because it was the same exact thing he laid witness to the moment he woke up from his death-induced unconsciousness.

"Why did you do this?" the fox shouted as he performed the same exact action he remembered him performing and said the same exact thing. "What has he ever done to you?"

"It's not the matter of what he did to me that's the issue here," replied again as he aimed his gun once more at the two tailed fox. It was clear at this point to Sonic, who was silently watching in shocked amazement, that he was basically watching a repeat of the past few minutes which also just happened to be Tails' last four minutes of life. "He just happened to be around at the right time for me."

"And you just wanted to kill the next random person you just happened to run into regardless of who they were?"

"That's pretty much the gist of it, boy. Unfortunately, I didn't expect for you to come by and become a witness to this unfortunate event. As much as I don't want to do this, I'm afraid I'll have to be stealing away another life tonight."

"Figures that you would do that. You want to get away with this as clean as you possibly can. It's people like you that I just can't even begin to understand! You're nothing but a heartless man!"

It was here that his mind quickly comprehended that there was something off from what he remembered. He remembered that time had frozen at some point during the two tailed fox's sentence. Even though he did not understand everything that was happening, he managed to figure in his mind that he was in the mindset of Tails, and he was not aware of the time freeze and therefore just passed through it like nothing had happened.

"You couldn't possibly understand why I had to kill the hedgehog. And I don't intend to spend all night explaining it to you. All you need to know is that I shot him for a very specific reason. And my specific reason for killing you is because you ran into me just as I was finishing up here. I suggest you start saying your prayers fox, because you're about to head in the same direction as that poor guy without any hopes of ever returning."

In the next second, the sound of the bike bell ringing reached their ears, and both the fox and the gunman turned their heads to where they heard the sound coming from in surprise.

"Wh-who's there?" the gunman shouted with his attention temporarily diverted like before. This, of course, was the opening created by Past Ghost Sonic in an attempt to help get his buddy out of the deadly situation. It did work for a moment when the two tailed fox shoved the man to the ground, but he ended up tripping when the man quickly rolled onto his stomach and grabbed ahold of his ankle.

"Thought you could get the slip through me, huh?" he said with that same growl that Sonic now figured to have been from both surprise and slight pain. "It'll take more than a weak distraction like that for you to escape from your deadly mistake!"

"Thought that I'd at least give it a try," Tails responded with a groan of pain that had no doubt come from having fell so suddenly before looking behind him. "Did you really think I wouldn't try to go down without at least a fight?"

"I commend your attitude, but I'm afraid your luck's about to end here," the man said as he pulled out the knife. "I've got you anchored to the ground. All I have to do now is drag you down a bit and stab you in the back. Couldn't be any simpler than that."

The next distraction made by Past Ghost Sonic soon came from the gun suddenly firing and startling both people once more.

"Wh-what's going on around here?" he exclaimed with the same amount of surprise in his words and the same exact movement of his head towards his discarded gun. "How did my gun just go and discharge like that?"

An just as before, Tails kicked the knife out of the man's hand before freeing up his ankle and trying out his escape attempt once more. And just like the first time around, the murdered took a branch near him and threw it at his feet and forcing him to the ground once again while yelling, "Damn, you're not going to get away with this!" And just like the first time, his stomach fell right on top of a branch and he groaned out, "Crud!"

"Ha, you honestly think that you can get away from me boy? It should be clear by now that no matter how hard you try, you can't get away from me." He then said as he reloaded his gun, "Alright, that's enough with all these distractions. Now it's time for you to die!" And then he kicked him over onto his back. "And now, I'll give you the pleasure of seeing me kill you. Consider this an honor that you'll see the very moment of your death. Not many get to brace themselves for a death since they have no idea that it's coming."

"Gee, I suppose I should feel honored that you're doing this for me," Tails replied sarcastically as his eyes wandered around in a panic. "Why is it then that I still hate you all the same?"

"Feel what you will, but I hope you'll gain the understanding on why I did this while you're in the afterlife. Now, while this interesting game of cat and mouse was fun, it's time to put an end to it. So long, and say hello to your friend if you happen to see him. Chances are, though, that you won't any time soon."

And that was when the sharp sound of a gunshot robbing the boy's life was heard. And the entire viewing area turned into a blank white area, most likely a result of seeing the end of the retelling of the past four minutes.

"_And that, my friends, is the last four minutes of life from this poor boy,_" the mysterious voice explained as the scenery changed back to the way it was expect for now having been frozen with the sight of Tails now dead and the gunman standing above him. "_Wouldn't you say that's quite intense?_"

"_So that was me being killed, huh?_" the spirit of the two tailed fox responded as he looked on in shock. "_I never thought that I would actually be able to see my own death. It's kind of freaky now that I've seen it._"

"_Well, I'm going to perform a freak of nature and stop your death from ever happening!_" Sonic exclaimed with a determined look set on his face.

"_Then concentrate once more on wanting to see the beginning of these four minutes,_" the voice instructed.

Once more, the hedgehog did what was suggested and felt that familiar dizzying feeling engulf him momentarily before seeing that he was back at the beginning of Tails' last four minutes of life.

**_4 Minutes Before Death - Changing Fate_**

"_Alright, now it's time for you to get to work Sonic,_" the voice said full of anticipation. "_But first, I'll go ahead and explain some things while the scene unfolds. After all, what you had intended to do before he had died comes up near the moment of his death, so there's plenty of time to discuss some technicalities until then. Now, I'm sure you've noticed where it is that you started from?_"

"_Isn't this the same place where Tails was killed?_" Sonic wondered as he recognized the rock that was nearby.

"_Think of it as you entering a room. Naturally, your body would start at the entrance before you can go and wander off to wherever it is that you want to go. That's the same concept here. His dead body's core was an entry point, and you can only start from that same entry point. Does that make sense so far?_"

"_I guess it kind of makes a bit of sense,_" the hedgehog replied as he along with Tails kept a close watch at the replay of the scene a good few yards away from them and slowly coming closer. "_If you don't mind me asking, is it possible for me to go into this Spirit World place that you kept taking me to earlier?_"

"_Like it was when you wanted to come to the beginning of these four minutes, all you have to do is concentrate on wanting to see the Spirit World. You will then go there and see what regular items have cores on them. I must warn you now that not everything you see in the real world has a core attached to it. So just be aware of that for future reference._"

"_Why is it that I don't have these powers?_" Tails asked the voice as he listened to the explanation and kept it shuffled into his mind for future reference. "_Why does Sonic have these things?_"

"_It's a rather rare phenomenon that only a select few of freshly dead souls can obtain,_" it explained as the sound of the bike bell was heard along with the sounds of the light scuffle. "_While you may have not obtained it now, there's no saying you won't the next time you die. Of course, I'm not advertising that you should die just so you can test it out._"

"_As if I were even planning on doing so in the first place,_" the fox responded in a deadpan expression as the sound of a gunshot was heard along with another scuffle before the thud of a falling body falling right where they were. "_Geez, I must've really loved the ground while all those distractions were taking place. I'm guessing then that all of those things were from you Sonic._"

"_The one and only,_" the hedgehog stated as he began to concentrate on going to the spirit world like the mysterious voice had instructed him to do. And just like before, the world froze over and the bright cores could be seen. "_Wow, I can't believe I actually did that._"

"_Wow, it's like a world within our world. It's just amazing!_"

"_Anyway, I think it's time that I continue on with what I had originally planned before you had officially died. Hopefully, your past self will notice the rock moving next to you and use it as a weapon._"

"_Hey, I was actually trying to reach for it while he was crushing me with his foot!_" the two tailed fox countered as Sonic moved from his starting position to the rock's core. "_It just happened to be out of my reach then._"

"_Then let my try moving it closer to you so you can use it._"

Once he was in position, Sonic tried to get out of the Spirit World in the same he had entered it, by concentrating. To his surprise, it had actually worked, and the world returned back to its original flow.

"_Alright, time to see if my plan would've worked,_" the hedgehog replied with a hint of nervousness just as the murderer kicked Past Tails onto his back and crushing him. "_Hopefully, you weren't too panicked to not notice the rock within arm's reach._"

With that said, he tried to manipulate the rock, which happened to be relatively rounded with a sharp point to it. Amazingly enough, it rolled a few inches towards the past version of the two-tailed fox and within his grasps.

"And now, I'll give you the pleasure of seeing me kill you," the murder said as he aimed his gun right at the fox's head in preparation for his murder. "Consider this an honor that you'll see the very moment of your death. Not many get to brace themselves for a death since they have no idea that it's coming."

"Sorry, but I have no intention of being killed right now," Past Tails said confidently, which was a far cry from what he had originally said under the same predicament. In the next moment, he had picked up the rock that was moved closer to him courtesy of Sonic and stabbed the pointed end right into the man's leg. This, of course, caused him to yell in pain and accidentally throw his gun away in the process. Amazingly though, his foot never left the boy's chest. Instead, it just made him step even harder.

"_Uh, I think that only made things worse for me,_" Tails responded as he winced at the new situation created. "_I guess my original idea of stabbing his leg so it would get off me wouldn't have worked._"

"_But this change in this 4-minute world is a good thing,_" the mysterious voice said as he froze time so as to explain something to them. "_You see, what you're witnessing is something that fate has already preordained. However, whenever you make a change outside of the original path of fate, like wounding a man by dropping a crate on his head, then the fate of the overall situation is changed ever so slightly. As such, it could buy you more time to figure out a permanent solution, or you can inadvertently open a new path for yourself by influencing the course of fate and adding a little something extra to it._"

"_Wow, that really sounds complicated,_" Sonic responded as he seemed bewildered by the onslaught of information. The two tailed fox, on the other hand, seemed to easily understand what was said and digested it with ease. "_Too complicated for a simple new ghost like me to come up with in such a short amount of time. How do you know all of these things? Just who the heck are you?_"

"_I told you already; I've been dead for a little while already. What I know about these powers is what I've learned through visualization and experience. However, now's not the time to be talking about myself. You still have a friend to save._"

And with that, the world started to flow freely again, and the sound of the man howling in pain reached their ears.

**_Fate Changed!_**

"Wow, I didn't think that you'd still be here standing on me," Past Tails wheezed out as he felt the pressure increase after he stabbed his attacker in the leg. He felt warm drips of blood falling onto his chest, but that was clearly the least of his worries right now. "And I thought that you'd be rolling on the ground away from me in pain."

"God damn it!" the man shouted in pain while gripping at the area around his freshly made wound while gingerly holding onto the rock. He then pulled the stone out of its lodged position within his leg with a great howl of pain and threw it angrily over his shoulder. He then growled out in equal while ignoring the blood now freely gushing out of the open wound and onto the fox's white chest fur, "That's it, no more playing around! If you don't want to die by gun or knife, then I'll kill you with my own bare hands!"

And with those angry words, the man practically collapsed right beside the fox. He then smothered both of his hands roughly over his nose and mouth, thus cutting off all air flow to the inner workings of his body.

"_Damn it, I'm back to where I started the night off!_" Sonic swore as he looked at his current surroundings from the rock he still inhabited and saw his body right next to him. He saw off to the distance the fox struggling to get air into his lungs. He even tried to use his arms to wrestle the hands over him and punch the other, but both had practically no effect due to his unfortunately smaller and weaker body. "_He's about to suffocate to death! There has to be something I can do here!_"

"_If I remember correctly, there weren't any other cores around this immediate area besides the bike bell when you first learned of your abilities,_" the mysterious voice mused without any concern in his words.

"_Then how about you try going to the bell again?_" Tails suggested as he saw himself still struggling but visibly starting to grow weaker. "_Maybe you could try ringing it again and get him distracted._"

"_I don't think that's going to work this time Tails,_" the hedgehog spirit responded as he quickly froze time so as to both buy him more time to think and search for any available cores. "_He looks too immersed in trying to suffocate the life out of you. No, there has to be something else that I can work with. Wait a minute; I never noticed that before,_" he added thoughtfully as he turned his full attention towards his body that was still lying against the wall. "_There's a core over my dead body. It's a blue color like other regular things, so I'm guessing it's not a gateway to my four minutes before death._"

"_That's pretty observant of you, Sonic,_" the voice commended in a tone that could have been construed as sarcastic when only heard and not seen. "_It is just another regular core for you to travel by. And just for the record, you can only do this with your own body since you were the previous owner of it. Any other dead bodies would just lead you to the Gateway Between Past and Present._"

"_But then why doesn't Sonic's body emit this different kind of core you said you both came through?_" the two tailed fox asked as he continued to look on at the frozen form of him and his attacker. It was almost as if half of his mind was entranced at seeing himself at this angle while the other half was listening to the ghostly conversation happening right next to him. "_Why can't he go back to this Gateway Between Past and Present and to his last four minutes before death? That would help erase both his and my death._"

"_Because a spirit with ghost powers cannot enter their own core through their own sole power. If they were allowed to do so, then every person with this ability would be able to live out their life to lengths fate had not intended for. The only way a death can be reversed is to have another spirit with ghost powers enter your core. But the chances of a complete stranger helping you like that are close to none._"

"_Look, so long as I can save Tails' life here with these crazy powers, then I can say that my death at least meant something. I don't like to leave things the way they are when I can do something about it even if I'm dead. Anyway, I'm going to my body and see if I can manipulate it or something like that._"

"_I'm afraid that you'll be in for a rude awakening,_" the mysterious voice said in the same tone he used when he had tried to travel from gun to rock earlier. "_I'll let you, however discover it for yourself. The fun in learning is to discover things on your own._"

Choosing to ignore the ever cryptic musings of the voice that he knew almost nothing about, Sonic made his move towards the core on his body. Initially, he was just out of walking reach, but he managed to migrate thanks to his outstretched arms. Tails, who was tagging along with him, followed suit.

"_Alright, it's time to go ahead and unfreeze time. Hopefully, I'll be able to save you with this next move._"

With that slight hint on uncertainty made clear, the hedgehog unfroze time and quickly began to imagine himself taking over his own body. It was different from when he tried to manipulate other objects because he was not feeling the slight buzz he noticed he would get when being able to activate his powers. After a few moments though, he felt that familiar feeling and delved into it. He was soon fully immersed into his dead body and now completely taking control of it.

"_My god…!_" the voice exclaimed silently with a sharp intake of breath. "_I never expected for this to happen. I've never seen such strong display of power in all my years of using and witnessing ghost powers!_"

"Alright, time to do some rescuing here!" Sonic replied excitedly as he quickly got up from the floor and ran towards Tails' attacker without a second thought. Arriving there in less than five seconds, he roughly pulled the man off of the fox and held him by the scruff of his shirt collar with no signs of letting go soon.

"S-Sonic?" Past Tails gasped out in shock while taking deep breaths as he saw the hedgehog he saw to be dead just minutes ago standing right in front of him coming to his rescue. "B-but I thought you were dead! I didn't see you breathing! How the hell are you even walking around after something like that?"

"I'll explain it to you later, buddy!" the blue hedgehog replied before throwing a rather strong and quick punch right at the man's face. As a result, there was a cracking sound of his jaw being broken before the satisfying sound of his now unconscious form falling flat to the ground. He did not move since then.

"Well, that takes care of that major problem," the hedgehog responded as he wiped his hands clean of the imaginary dirt. "And that should take care of your death while you're at it," he added as he looked at Past Tails and saw his shocked and confused face. It was then that his vision disappeared and replaced with nothing but pure whiteness.

**_Fate Averted!_**

"_Wow, I didn't think that you'd be able to manipulate your dead body and use it to fight that guy off of me!_" Tails exclaimed in awe at what he had just witnessed from his previously officiated last four minutes of life. "_That's definitely a freaky way to go about saving me. What if you ended up giving me a heart attack because of that?_"

"_So I accidentally freaked you out with that little stunt of mines,_" Sonic responded with a sense of indifference. "_What difference does it make now? The important thing here is that I managed to save you from that man. Or would you rather die by suffocation and not see me return from the dead in all my glory?_"

"_You were hardly glorious when you were still alive,_" the two tailed fox countered with a roll of his eyes as their surroundings lost the blinding whiteness and reverted back to the black starry-like atmosphere. "_I hardly think with you dead and getting all these new abilities would really qualify you for an upgrade in glamor._"

"_Well, you've certainly done better than I previously gave you credit for,_" the mysterious voice said in a congratulatory manner. "_Not many new spirits like you could have executed something like that so well. You even managed to give me a rather pleasant surprise there. That's certainly something for me to think about in the future._"

"_Hey, I want to thank you for helping me save Tails,_" the cobalt hedgehog spirit thanked the voice. "_Although I do have to admit that it was kind of weird to be getting help from someone I don't know let alone see._"

"_Well, it was the least I could do since you helped to satisfy one of my many curious thoughts in regards to these ever complicated puzzles of Ghost Tricks. Allow me to give to you one more piece of advice concerning your powers as further thanks for doing so. When you're in the four minutes world of your chosen victim and make a change to their fate, you have successfully created a new branch in that person's history. As such, if you so happen to make a mistake after that point, you have the option to either go back to the creation of the new branch or all the way to the beginning of the original scenario._

"_Now that I've seen what I've seen here and told you everything that I feel necessary for you to know, I'm afraid I must make my leave,_" the voice stated with a small sigh after finishing his quick explanation. "_I wish you both the very best in the new future you've just created. And whenever you feel like leaving here yourself, just relax your mind and you'll be back in the real world in the new future._"

"_W-wait a minute!_" the two tailed fox exclaimed rather suddenly when it sounded like the voice was about to leave them. "_Don't you think you could tell us your name before you leave? You haven't told me yet, and I doubt you told Sonic since he hasn't called you by name ever since you both approached me._"

"_…I suppose you both are inclined to know that much about me,_" the voice responded after taking a couple of seconds to consider the thought. "_I'm afraid, however, that I won't be disclosing my real name. You'll have to earn my overall trust before you can have the right to know. For the meantime, you can just call me Rei, the Japanese word for 'Spirit'. I hope to see either of you two again in the near future. In fact, I'm most certain that we'll meet again under circumstance different than this._"

"_Hey, that's not the answer to our question!_" the hedgehog retorted angrily as he tried to get a straight answer from the voice he had been hearing since the moment of his death. However, he was met with only silence, a clear indication that the owner of the mysterious voice had already left them. "_And now he's gone before I can get a real answer. I swear; I think he likes giving me the runaround with my questions._"

"_Has this Rei voice-person thing always been this mysterious when you first met him?_" Tails asked with eyebrows raised in confusion at the sudden lack of response from the once present voice. "_I've only heard you try to ask him for something a couple of times, and he seems to like dodging it all whenever he can._"

"_He's not just mysterious; he's also pretty difficult to get a straight answer on anything,_" Sonic admitted while adding in another part from his short experience with the strange but helpful spirit. He then added with a small sigh, "_Then again, I guess I can't really go about complaining about his crazy behavior even though I really want to. After all, he did introduce me to and taught me how to use these weird powers I just suddenly got and helped me to help you survive your murder. I suppose I should consider it small payback that he even gave us a name to call him by, even if it's only a fake._"

"_Whatever it is, he knows how to be mysterious in a helpful way. It's really amazing how he knows so much about your powers. It's like he's been around as a spirit for a good while. Anyway, do you think you can get us out of here now? I'd like to go back to my old body and greet your dead body with open arms,_" the fox added with humorous sarcasm clearly laced into his words.

"_Hey, at least I'm still walking around and protecting you from killer people, and I don't think that's going to be changing anytime soon!_" the hedgehog retorted in the same humorous fashion. With a chuckle coming from the other, the hedgehog concentrated on relaxing his mind like the voice had instructed him to so he could go back to the real world. He then felt a feeling of lightness and saw the world around him disappear as his vision began to black out followed closely with his consciousness.

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><p>Well, I hope that you all liked how this chapter came out. I decided that I will put it under the same format as the Ghost Trick game when it comes to moving to a dead person's last four minutes of life. There will be a replay of their final moments upon entering their core before the actual attempt of fixing the death. And as shown already, changes to fate will be announced and then the complete erasure of the deadly fate. And isn't it interesting how Sonic is able to possess his own body along with making certain things perform certain actions.<p>

And just as a small note, I purposely made this particular replay of death lacking good details in terms of background and the characters' body movements. The reason being is because I've already done that in the last chapter; I only had to redo the dialogue and add a few small things I accidentally left out description-wise. So sorry for those of you who felt that dialogue was redundant. It was all part of the story.

And for those of you who played Ghost Trick, you might notice that I made this particular fate problem somewhat resemble the very first fate problem in that actual game. Sonic tried to save Tails while he was still alive and ended up failing before going to his past to try it again from a new perspective. And of course, the run away scene kept getting botched, but I tried to make it more realistic in that he would keep getting tripped up by the murderer instead of like the game where it was practically the "slowest running away" ever known in video game history.

Anyway, thanks to all of you who have read this chapter. Don't forget to leave a review before you move on. They are always greatly appreciated, and I always take the time to read whatever it is that you have to say except if it looks and sounds like a flame or criticism that's just masking a flame. Until the next update on any of my stories on here everybody!


	3. Living in the New Life

Hello everybody! I'm so sorry for not updating this story in a long time for those of you who have been waiting ever so patiently for this. For those of you who did wait this long, I thank you for your patience with me. When I first started writing this, the new quarter of my college was almost beginning, and starting it took a lot more of my time. As a result, this story was completely taken out of my mind and replaced with school work. And when I did have time to write stories, only new ideas for new stories came up. Yes, this particular story idea was not cooperating with me in any way possible.

So while this is an update, I have to admit that they won't be as frequent as you and I would like them to be since I'm busy working on trying to complete my new one that's based around the Kingdom Hearts game. I am very excited about it and would really like to finish that up before anything else. If you want to read it, it's called, "Scotch on the Rox". While it does sound like a strange title, you have to read it in order to understand what it means.

Anyway, that's enough about my rant and apology. I'll let you all go ahead and read this new chapter for this story. A little warning though; this happens to be a short chapter. For those of you who know me, short chapters are very uncharacteristic of me. However, I could not think of anything else to write for this chapter without having it feel like that it's only being unnecessarily dragged on just so it can look bigger. Then again, the old saying says that bigger isn't always better. I just hope that it reflects with this chapter to all of you readers.

Now without any more senseless nonsense from me, I'll let you all go and start reading. Just don't forget to leave a review after you're done. I always read them and take them into consideration considering that they are constructive criticisms or mistakes that have been pointed out to me. Flames, as usual, are just going to go ignored by me. And don't forget to go and read my Kingdom Hearts story for those of you who are interested in it and have the time. So until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

And before I forget or if I don't catch anybody before this, hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: Living in the New Life<strong>

When Sonic had regained consciousness, he immediately noticed that his vision was as clear as if he had been awake during the entire transitional ordeal from past world to present. He also noticed that he was still in the same place he last remembered to have been at, and that was inside his own dead body that he was still manipulating. He also noticed something that he had not been doing when his vision had turned white. He took note that was right now kneeling next to Tails who was still lying on the ground looking as shocked as ever at the whole ordeal that had taken place in his previous four minutes before death.

_Heh, I guess things start at where it normally would after the new timeframe takes place,_ he thought as he quickly regained his bearings and remembered the situation from earlier. _I guess it makes sense, but I can't really say that I understand it. Where's that ghostly guy when you need him to explain something? Anyway, I better pull myself together and make sure that Tails here isn't hurt any more than he was by that guy._

"Hey, it's time to snap out of it, Tails!" the reanimated hedgehog stated out loud in a playful tone as he started to snap his fingers in front of the fox in an attempt to gain his attention. All he received as an answer from the other was a blank stare that showed absolutely no life. He then tried again in that same playful tone of voice, "I know you can hear me from wherever it is you're hiding in that head of yours. Come on; don't go slapping me in the face with the poor shocked victim card here."

A couple of seconds later, the two tailed fox finally responded by blinking his eyes rapidly and staring up at the hedgehog he had known to be dead a few minutes ago. It looked like that the transgressions of the last few minutes did indeed bring him into a slight state of shock. Then suddenly with little to no warning, the fox gave him a big hug despite the blood on his chest spreading onto the other.

"Thanks for saving me there, Sonic!" the two tailed fox thanked the other as a smile quickly made its way onto his face. Apparently, the previously shock-like attitude was just his brain's way of putting everything together into an understandable mass of near unbelievable information. "I still can't believe that you're able to make all those things happen with your tricks now that you're dead."

"Are you telling me that you actually remembered me doing all those weird things?" Sonic exclaimed with wide eyes at how his buddy had managed to remember what had taken place over the past few minutes. "I thought your memory of it would be erased now that you're alive again and in this new future I just created. I don't think people normally remember something from a timeframe that doesn't exist anymore."

"Well, I was conscious when you were busy trying to play god and create a new living future for me in hopes that I can live again," the two tailed fox responded as he let go of the embrace and looked thoughtful for a moment. "I was able to witness just what was going on the entire time, so it should make sense that I'm able to remember something from a time that has now been erased. I got to admit that the whole thing was pretty cool, and it was great to see my now would-be murderer get freaked out by your then dead body."

"Still, I'd rather that you didn't have to remember any of that at all," the other responded with a frown on his face that reflected his somewhat regretful feelings. "You're still a kid for crying out loud! You shouldn't have to witness or even remember something as gruesome as my murder let alone yours. Don't you know how traumatic it would be for you in the future when you look back on this? Not many guys your age are able to come back from that without any sort of emotional scars and social abnormalities. They tend to grow up into antisocial people or even psychotic murderers if it's that bad."

"Do you honestly think that I'm like the average every day kid who lives in his own personal bubble believing that everything is fine in the world around him? Trust me; having seen you lying dead against the wall was traumatic enough for me. Me being killed and then revived by you just helped to put me back on my mental track. And speaking of revivals, how are you right now moving around in your own body as if you were never shot at? You're supposed to be dead after having a bullet go into your heart."

"So that's where he ended up pumping me with lead," Sonic mused as he finally figured out just where he had been shot at. "Don't go asking me about that. It's not like I have all the answers here. That other ghost guy that was with us might know why, but I don't think he's here for us to be asking questions now.

"And speaking of which, I think it's about time that we got out of this crazy park," the cobalt hedgehog continued on as he looked at the still unconscious form of the murderer and the blood on the wall where he was killed. He could not help but let a shiver of uneasiness escape upon seeing his murderer still alive and threatening to wake up from his slumber at any given moment. "I'd really hate it if he came to and killed you again. It was already a hassle to save you the first time, and I don't think freaking the guy out with my presumably dead body is going to work the second time around."

"I still can't believe that you could actually save me while you're supposed to be dead after I've been killed myself," Tails mused as he nodded his head and began to walk alongside the hedgehog out of the park. "I've always figured that if there ever came a time that I had to be rescued, it would either be by doctors or my friends that were still alive. I guess there are just some things in this world that are completely unexplainable."

"Hey, detectives of my caliber should always be prepared to help out anybody in need no matter how bad the situation looks or turns into. That also includes helping someone after our death if it comes to it. That's just how the best of us manage to work. We do better while in the middle of the unexplainable."

"Besides showing me that you're just being plain cocky, that made absolutely no sense at all. Even if you were prepared for death, there's no humanly possible way that any normal person in any normal situation would've been able to help anybody out after they die. It just doesn't make any normal sense.

"And besides, weren't you supposed to be back home at half past nine?" the two tailed fox continued on as he tried to change the subject. "You said that you were almost done filing your reports when you last called at nine. I got worried when you didn't show and decided to come here in case you got sidetracked. And I don't mean sidetracked as in having your hands full catching a criminal."

"Sorry, but I got held up at the office for a little while longer because of some lazy dolt dumping all of his unfinished work on me," the cobalt hedgehog shrugged as they both reached the end of the block and turned the corner without looking back. "I meant to call you again after that, but it was an overload that had to be done before ten, so you can imagine how tied down I was. And if you don't mind me asking, why did you choose to come here of all places to go looking for me? You know that there have been lots of reports of suspicious activities going on around here during the night hours."

"Well, I figured that you might've been playing around here while trying to straighten out your thoughts," the other responded with an innocent shrug of his shoulders. "You used to do that sometimes when you were in high school. I was worried about you when it was a quarter before ten and you still weren't home."

"You worry about me way too much, you know that? Don't forget that I'm a part of the police force, so I'm able to take care of myself pretty well in the case that some crazy guy wants to pick a fight with me. I don't think they would've hired someone who could be construed as irresponsible and always needing someone to chaperone them."

"Yeah, you sure did a good job proving that when you got yourself shot and killed by some random person before coming back to life. That really shows how you don't need anybody following you around at all hours of the day."

"Alright, that's enough of the death crap here. I don't want to be talking about that or why I'm even alive while I'm supposed to be stone cold dead for the rest of the night. That can all wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, let's just hurry up and get home so I can wash all this blood off my fur.

"I still can't believe that you're actually taking this whole ghost thing as well as you have been," Sonic continued on as they turned another corner and saw lines of houses on either side of the street with some having their porch lights on and illuminating parts of the street. "I was freaking out myself when I first found out I was dead and able to do all these weird hocus-pocus stuff that you only see in those old cheesy ghost movies. I thought that you would've at least started screaming your head off like crazy when you first woke up dead and saw yourself getting killed all over again."

"To be honest, I think this is just my body's way of being shocked," Tails responded with a sigh as a slight rumbling was heard coming from the sky just before being accompanied by a sudden bright flash of light from a streak of lightning. "I can't even try to relax no matter how calm I make myself sound; and I just have to keep talking to you about anything even if it starts to become a bit redundant."

"Well, knowing how you are sometimes, I guess that's something that would make sense for you," the cobalt hedgehog stated as he looked up at the sky just as a bright flash momentarily illuminated the dark sky. "Gee, a sound like a storm's going to be crashing in our neighborhood soon. Thank god we're home's nearby. I'm sure the water's going to bring our unconscious 'friend' back to life if he isn't already. I prefer to be out of his sights by then before he tracks us down and kills you again in our house."

"That and your blood that's still at the spot where you died should wash away since it's still fresh," the two tailed fox added as they reached a white brick house's driveway and began walking across its healthy green lawn. Clearly, this was their home since they walked across the grass without a single care in the world that they could be scolded for trespassing. "Thank god the weatherman said there'd be a big storm rolling in tonight. I hope that guy gets shocked to death after being soaked through."

"Whoa, that's a bit of an extreme way of thinking for you there," the other stated with a low whistle as they stepped onto their front porch that had a couple of lawn chairs and a small plastic table off towards the side. At that exact moment, rain started to lightly fall and coat the ground, yet they were both well protected by the cover their porch had provided. "It could be good if he's still alive and ended up getting caught doing something else illegal. That way, I could question him on both what he did and why he tried to kill you. Anyway, could you hurry up and open the door? You know how much I hate the rain."

"Oh, quit acting like such a baby, Sonic. You've got to learn how to have a better tolerance with rain. It's not even something that could have a remote chance of hurting you. And you call yourself a detective? I'm sure that you've been in the rain before when looking over a potential crime scene."

"That's because I was forced to for the sake of my job. I had to swallow my pet peeve if I wanted to keep my job and pay the rent for this place. Other than that, I don't want to be under the rain and getting my fur soaked through."

With a grumble of annoyance that seemed to also reflect a good amount of amusement, Tails took a key out of the white gloves he had on and put it into the doorknob. After jiggling it for a little bit, the door opened and they both entered just as another loud rumbling pierced through the sound of rain pattering against the concrete.

"Before you ask me for anything, I'm going upstairs to take a shower first," Tails quickly said as he walked into the house and up the set of stairs that were situated right in front of him. "I don't want to stand around with all this blood still on my fur any longer. I'm starting to get really grossed out by it."

"Believe it or not, that's what I was about to suggest," Sonic called up the stairs to the other just before he heard the sound of the bathroom door closing. He then muttered to himself with an amused roll of his eyes, "As if I'd ask go and you to do something while still covered in blood. What kind of a person do you seriously take me for?"

Being that the entire two story house only had one bathroom with a shower built into it; the cobalt hedgehog was forced to wait his turn while his best friend was busy cleaning himself off. He decided to wait in the living room area just to his left and snatched the day's paper off of a hallway table as he passed by it. He then leaned next to the rain-splattered window and began reading the paper, careful at to not let any of his fur that was still slightly damp with blood to mar the white walls. The last thing he wanted was more cleanup work after the hectic night both he and the two-tailed fox had.


	4. The Next Morning

Hello everybody! I'm sorry for this particular story having been dead for more than a year! it just kind of fell out of my writing routine as I had and still am concentrating on school. That and I was really and still am into my other Sonic mystery called Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law. However, I have decided to try and bring this story back to life. What better way to make that happen than by making a new chapter for this story? I mean, this is a story that I'm happy to have created, so I figured I just bring this back. Hopefully, I can remember how I decided to make the story flow and what the plot was. If not, then I can always recreate it as I go along. Oh, the joy of creating a story from scratch!

I hope you all remember how this story has so far went about. If not, then feel free to read the previous three chapters. After all, it's just three chapters to refresh on and not like thirty. Still, I'll bet that most of you are really just new readers who just happened to see this story pop onto the grid after a year's worth of hiatus. Oh well, I hope you all enjoy this new chapter all the same. And to the new readers who decided to check this story out for curiosity's sake, I welcome you to this story and hope that you'll also read my other stories I have on this site.

For those of you who tend to know me for making somewhat long to really long chapters, you'll notice that this along with some other chapters to this story in the future will be somewhat shorter. The reason for that is because this isn't like the hardcore mystery story like my other Sonic story. There really isn't any clues to write about nor are there going to be those extensive cross-examination moments. However, there is going to be some action scenes like you've probably already read back in the second chapters. Of course, action doesn't really make that long of a chapter. Just a heads-up in case you're wondering why there's a downgrade to the length of my stories. After all, action can't be bogged down with so many details or it'll become so dense and thick you won't be able to get into the story without running away in search of something else to read.

You might also notice from this chapter onward that there's a change to my writing style in comparison to my other three chapters. The reason for that is because I have been in college and still am in college. Between the time I stopped writing this to now, I had taken college classes on creative fiction writing. As such, I've been implementing what I've learned from those classes into this chapter. I hope you all like the improvement to the writing and the lack of irrelevant redundancies.

Anyway, I'll go ahead and shut up now. I hope you all enjoy this new chapter. Please don't forget to leave me a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always helpful in letting me know what you guys see in terms of mistakes and whatever kind of other suggestions that you might have to better the story. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: The Next Morning<strong>

After trying to forget about the events from last night that had left Sonic both dead yet still living at the same time, both he and Tails were in the living room eating breakfast. Because of all the excitement that they were subjected to, both looked pretty tired and were just picking at their cereal. Then again, neither had expected to get any amount of sleep since it was not every day where you found yourself getting shot to death one minute and practically having that death erased in the next. Even the most stoic person in the world would probably have a hard time coming to terms with such an event.

Another thing that the two were kind of expecting the morning to bring was a newscast of some sort detailing the blood that was found at Dead-End Park. After all, the sound of a gunshot is pretty hard for anyone to not have heard. Something like a puddle of dried blood was a pretty standout added feature nobody would have been happy to find in a supposedly family-friendly park. However, all they heard that morning where of normal morning things such as the traffic and weather reports among other non-important events that happened overnight. Apparently, the man who had murdered the blue hedgehog regained consciousness after the great beating he received between then and the next morning.

"I told you the rain last night was going to be strong enough to wash the blood at the park," Sonic told Tails as he shuffled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth. He then said while crunching away, "Even that man who tried to murder us managed to make a run for it after we just left him there."

"I still say you went a bit overboard when you gone and punched his lights out," Tails responded as he got up from a chair he was sitting on in the living room and headed off towards the kitchen. "You could have just kept him from running away and called the cops so they could arrest him. Anyway, what do you think we should do now? Shouldn't we bring this up to the police? I mean, there's a man out there who did murder both of us. It's kind of hard to pretend that last night never happened."

"Uh, I don't think that the police is going to believe us if we tell them about that," the blue hedgehog responded with a frown as he set his now empty bowl on the coffee table in front of him. "I may work with the department, but that's hardly enough for them to start believing me about all this freaky spiritual occult stuff. I don't think anybody apart from a supernatural believer would take me seriously.

"Besides, you're still alive and are not considered legally dead ever since I changed your fate," he added with a small yet cocky smile. "They'd probably think you're insane if you told them how I somehow managed to reverse your death. If you think about it, I'm the only one here who could be considered legally dead. However, they'd probably I just suddenly fainted if I left my body in front of them all."

"But what about your gunshot wound?" the young fox suggested. "It's not like I'm saying you should just go up to them and say you're actually dead, I really doubt they'll ignore something like that if the topic comes up. At the least, you can act like you were non-fatally shot when you go in and say that the culprit managed to run away."

"Um, about that… I don't really know how to say this, but there technically isn't any gunshot wound to show them anymore. I don't know how it happened, but it somehow managed to…completely disappear."

"What?_!_" the fox exclaimed as he came rushing back into the living room and stood in front of Sonic. He then began pawing at the hedgehog's chest in search of the fatal wound. "But how is that possible? You weren't able to erase your own death. You should still have a wound on you somewhere!"

"Hey, stop trying to feel me up, Tails! You're not going to find it by patting down my chest. I have no idea how it managed to just disappear on its own like that. I only noticed it when I took a shower last night, but I didn't want to tell you about it since I figured you'd freak out like you are now."

"Can you blame me? I thought I've seen it all when I saw my own death being erased, but then comes this mysterious healing thing your body just did. I think I have a right to be freaking out and feeling you up!"

"…Okay, now that just sounded totally wrong when you're saying it," Sonic said with a screwed up look as he lightly shoved his brother away. "Look, let's just try to forget everything that happened last night. It's just way too complicated to understand, not to mention creepy what with everything being a result of ghostly powers. I doubt we'll ever be in a situation like that where I have to use those powers to keep your death from happening.

"More importantly, let's concentrate on how I should start explaining to everybody that I'm actually supposed to be dead now," he quickly changed the subject. "The police department is bound to figure it out sooner or later; a dead body will rot over time and start stinking up the place!" he added with a look of disgust. "And even if I somehow manage to keep myself from smelling and decaying into a pile of rotten dirt, I'd still have to go to the physicals they make us take every six months. I can't just tell the physician that I've been living with a bullet lodged in my chest for a long time! Not only would that not make sense, but this particular physician took a look at my chest when I was still in the middle of police training. He'll know something's up when he sees it again."

"Well, perhaps you can retire from the force before your next scheduled physical comes up. The only check-up you'll need to take then is when you visit your doctor, but you can at least avoid that by not setting up an appointment."

"But I only just started working six months ago!" the hedgehog retorted as he took his bowl into the kitchen and washed it. "Unless I somehow got injured badly enough that I was forced to quit, I doubt they'll accept my resignation without a fight. That and Knuckles is going to keep bugging me as to why I just suddenly decided to quit."

Just as he shut off the water, there was a knock coming from the door. Tails took it upon himself to answer the door as Sonic was drying his hands.

"Oh, hi Knuckles!" the fox greeted with slight surprise in his tone. "I didn't think I'd see you this morning. Come on in! Can I get you anything?"

"Knuckles?" the other repeated as he reentered the living room and saw a red echidna with a brown vest on walking towards the couch. "What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be working today."

"Believe it or not, I am at work right now," Knuckles explained with a sigh before taking a seat. "In fact, I'm just here investigating a claim we got an hour ago of shots being fired last night in the neighborhood at around ten."

"Sh-shots were fired? Um, why are you investigating it now? Wouldn't it have been better to have start the investigation last night right when it happened?"

"Didn't I already tell you that we received the call not only an hour ago?" the echidna repeated in annoyance. "You really need to start paying more attention if you want to become a great detective like me, Sonic. It's a good trait to be able to remember details like that the first time around. Anyway, I only came over to ask you some questions since you two happened to live within the general area. Did either of you hear or see anything strange happen a little before ten last night?"

"Uh…, I didn't really notice anything out of the ordinary," Tails explained, trying his best not to make mention of the paranormal phenomenon that took place at the time. "I was taking a shower at the time, so it probably drowned out the sound of bullets. Do you know where this shooting happened?"

"Vector's right now looking into that himself. He has a feeling that it probably came from the park. I've worked with him long enough to know that his guesses are usually on the nose whether or not they're substantiated with evidence. I'm supposed to be asking around the neighborhood for any information regarding this incident. How about you, Sonic? Did you hear gunshots or see anything fishy?"

"If I did, then I would've called it in to the department immediately," Sonic quickly explained, an action that might have seemed suspicious were it not a known part of his rather impatient attitude. "I don't think it'd look good on my record if I heard such an incident taking place and failed to report it. Do you really think I'd jeopardize my new job by not doing something as simple as that?"

"Hmm, I suppose you would've called the department if you heard something. Sorry to bother you about this on your day off buddy. Just make sure to call me if you hear anything or remember something since I'm assigned to this disturbance call. I swear; last night seemed to be nothing but a magnet for trouble."

"What do you mean, Knuckles?" the hedgehog asked. "I didn't hear anything about crimes happening on the morning news. What else went on besides this supposed shooting last night?"

"Well, both a robbery and attempted robbery took place sometime after midnight," Knuckles explained as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "The attempted robbery was the first to be called in and took place in some rich guy's mansion. Thankfully, one of his personal guards managed to find and chase the robber away before anything was stolen. Still, they wanted to file a report since the thief somehow managed to bypass this man's rather tight security.

"The successful robbery was at a bank in Downtown Mobius. Apparently, the person managed to avoid getting caught by the cameras while breaking into one of the high security vaults. Once they were in, they only stole one item. I've only been assigned to the attempted robbery case, so I don't know exactly what was stolen from the bank."

"The robbers didn't take any money?" the fox repeated in confusion. "What kind of thieves are they if they went through all that trouble to break into a bank vault and leave with just one thing? It doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know and I don't care," the detective simply replied as he got to his feet. "All I know is that both victims in the case made it clear that they didn't want the news media to catch wind of this. Apart from members of the police involved, nobody in the force knows about this. I guess I should consider myself lucky that Vector lets me in on some of the details being that he's both my friend and superior.

"Speaking of which, I should get back to that crocodile before he chews me out for wasting my time talking with colleagues. I'll see you guys around," he said as he made his way to the door. Just before opening it, he turned his head towards Sonic. "By the way, don't forget that you have to make that trip into Station Square this afternoon. I know it's your day off, but you have to go to the training academy to pick up the last of your initialization papers. The department here needs them in order to make your position official. They're in no shape to be receiving important documents by mail and filing them away what with the current lack of secretarial workers right now."

"Oh, I forgot all about that!" Sonic exclaimed as he looked at a nearby clock before sprinting up the stairs in a panic. "Damn it; I only have forty-five minutes to make the eleven o'clock train! I need to board that one if I'm going to want to turn my papers in on time! God, I hope traffic isn't a killer now!"

"…Why am I not surprised that he managed to forget about that? Tails, do you mind going along with him and make sure he doesn't forget anything? It'll make me feel a lot better if you're there to keep him grounded."

"I'd have gone along with him even if you hadn't asked," Tails stated with a shake of his head in annoyance. "I needed to go shopping at the specialty store for some tools, anyway. To be honest with you, I can't really blame him for being scatterbrained this time around. He and I…kind of had an interesting moment last night."

"By the way you said that, it doesn't sound like a good kind of interesting. I don't mean to pry, but did you two have an argument about something? You did seem a bit hesitant when you were telling me about what happened last night."

"Oh, it's nothing like that, Knuckles!" the fox quickly explained before walking up the stairs. "It's just…something that we agreed to no talk about with anyone outside of this house. I guess you can basically say that it's just a personal thing between us. Anyway, I better get ready before Sonic makes a run for the train station without me. If you're going to leave now, then make sure you close the door."

"Alright, you guys be careful when you're in Station Square," Knuckles warned before leaving the house and closing the door as he was instructed. He then murmured to himself while making his way back to the park, "I really hope that hedgehog doesn't somehow manage to fail in getting those papers. I'm going to pummel him so hard in his next police training to the point he can't even remember his own name. Now I better get back to the park and see what Vector managed to dig up."


	5. Aboard the Mobius Express

Hello everybody! Here's another update to this wonderful story of mine. For you skeptics who thought I wasn't really going to update this story and just gave a pity update, I hope this absolved you of all your fears of this not being picked up again. Still, college is being a complete torture on me what with the constant work and tests I have to take. And they're raising the costs of college yet cutting away classes. That's definitely one way for them to keep us there longer and thus take more money. Oh well, what can you do about that if you really want to get a degree?

Anyway, that's enough about my personal rants that I'm sure none of you are really interested in reading. All you're here for is to read the new chapter that I posted. All you want to see is Sonic going through a mini-panic after figuring out at the end of the last chapter that he needed to make a mad dash to Station Square and get his papers from the police department there. Oh, the troubles of procrastinating and doing all your important things at the last minute. Here's to hoping he doesn't have to add being fired on top of being a dead hedgehog to his list.

Please don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading this chapter. They are always very helpful when I make these new chapters in seeing what you guys like or hate about it. Also, any suggestions that you may have will also be well appreciated and might actually be seen in one of my future chapters. Other than that, it's a way for me to know what it is that you're expecting for this story.

And to **Ghostkid33**; thanks for your review and for sticking with this story for so long. Then again, you have been hooked on my Sonic the Hedgehog: Attorney of Law story for a while; so I guess it isn't too much of a surprise to see you back on this story. Still, it's good to know that someone like you has been waiting patiently for all this time. Also, thanks for taking notice of my new writing style. All I hoped for when writing the last chapter was that somebody would notice, and I'm glad you were able to. So thanks!

Now with all that boring stuff out of the way, I'll go away now and leave you with this new chapter. Until the next update to this or any of my other stories on this site everybody!

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Aboard the Mobius Express<strong>

As Sonic and Tails rode through town on the local bus, they were forced to sit in separate areas since it happened to be incredibly crowded that morning. They were still close enough to hold some semblance of communication, but the noise of the bus along with the wall of people between them made it impossible to hear a word. As such, they both just sat in silence until they arrived at their destination.

Then again, it was probably for the best since the fox most likely would have talked his brother to death about how he should be finishing his important business right when they are assigned so he would not have to be rushing around. As much as Sonic loved his adoptive little brother, that was one of the few things he hated about him. He would always try to avoid it whenever he had the chance to, and this was one of those moments.

"It's about time we made it here!" Sonic exclaimed once they finally arrived at the train station. They both quickly made their way towards the doors, although they had to shove some people away in the process. This earned them both harsh glares and some choice words from some angry passengers that went ignored for the most part. "I can't believe we actually managed to make it with time to spare!"

"That's if you count having to pay extra to board the express bus and only having less than ten minutes to purchase a ticket as having time to spare," Tails deadpanned, knowing full well that his brother was going to ignore him and run straight to the ticket booth. He then said with a sigh, "I don't know how his coworkers put up with him every day. Then again, I'm one to talk since I'm the one living with him every day!"

With a shake of his head in amusement, the two-tailed fox carefully maneuvered through the crowd to reach the ticket booth. Once he arrived, he noticed that his older brother seemed a bit aggravated. He immediately figured that there were no more available tickets for the eleven o'clock train going to Station Square.

"But there's got to be something you can do!" the blue hedgehog pleaded with the teller. "The two of us really need to get on the eleven o'clock train to Station Square. That's the only way I can get my paperwork and deliver them back here before my deadline. I can't afford to wait until the three o'clock train comes around! Isn't there something you can do to see if there are any spare tickets left?"

"Well, I suppose I quickly skim through the system and see if there's anybody who ended up cancelling their tickets," the teller suggested while shrugging her shoulders before turning her attention onto her computer. "However, I can't guarantee that such a thing is going to happen. The chances of that happening at this point in time are not that great. Still, just give me a few seconds while I run a quick check for… Oh!"

"Did someone actually cancel their tickets?" the young fox asked with ever the smallest hints of hopefulness in his tone.

"Well, I have to say that it's your lucky day today!" the woman stated in surprise as she began reading what was being shown on her screen. "According to this, there's an area in the premium economy class section that opened up just two minutes ago. It'll cost a little bit more than regular economy, but you'll be allowed some extra amenities such as the bar and more spacious seating. And you're in even greater luck; the cancellation involved two adjacent seats and include the trip back to this station under the same class seating. If you'd like, I can print up the pair of tickets for you now."

"Yes, I'll take whatever tickets you're offering!" Sonic happily exclaimed as he dug into his black vest and took out his wallet. "Just please tell me that you accept credit cards, because I don't think I have enough cash on me."

By the time the entire transaction was completed, they heard an announcement stating that their train was on its final boarding call. Hearing this, they broke into a mad dash to make the train; Tails had enough sense to thank the teller before they were out of earshot. Thanks to their ability to easily maneuver through the busy and congested crowd, the two managed to make it into the train just before the doors closed.

"Geez, talk about cutting things down to the last second!" the hedgehog sighed out as he leaned against the train wall. The few people who were in the area gave him strange looks before going their own ways. "I didn't think we'd have to run across the platform like a couple of idiots just so we can catch this train."

"Well, it was pretty much your fault for forgetting that you had to go into Station Square and get those papers," Tails calmly explained as if he did not just finished running. "And don't even think about using last night as an excuse."

"Come on; I doubt even you'd be able to remember much after something like last night happening! You got to cut me some slack here."

"I've cut you some slack more times than I can count already," the two tailed fox replied before taking both their tickets and pressing it up against a scanner next to a door that led further into the train. "And besides, I never said that last night wasn't a good explanation for forgetting. It's just that I doubt your boss would entertain any kind of excuse you have for him after he gave you a month's notice to get those papers in."

The other merely growled in annoyance before the doors opened and allowed them into their designated train car. What waited for them inside was a part of the train that looked well-organized and designed modestly with a simple bluish-green carpet covering the floor. Each side had a wooden table situated between two leather seats that could fit two people each along with a window showcasing the scenery outside. Even the racks above the seats for holding luggage were larger than usual.

When the two stole a glance at their tickets for indication of their assigned seats, they noticed that they only had their names and the car that they belonged in printed on it. Unlike being in the regular economy class as they were accustomed to, the seating arrangement here seemed to be quite lax and apparently was on a first come, first serve basis. And to top it all off, there was a small section towards the center of the train car that looked a lot like a bar mentioned to them earlier by the teller. Overall, the car was well-kept yet not to the point that it seemed overly posh and insanely spacious.

"…I think I can get used to this kind of space!" Sonic said as he began memorizing his surroundings. "It certainly is a step up in both design and apparent service than what you'd get in regular economy. What do you think about it, Tails?"

"I think that you're going to have some trouble paying for all these extra expenses," Tails replied as he quickly took a seat on one of the left seats further into the car. "First you had to pay more so we could board the express bus, then you had to pay extra for the premium economy tickets just to ensure that you can make it to the Station Square Police Department and back here to Mobius. All this is so that you can turn in your papers to the Mobius Police Department on time. If it weren't for the fact that Uncle Chuck left the house to you in his will, I'd be worrying about how we'd be able to make next month's mortgage."

"I already said I was sorry before we even left the house," the hedgehog countered in an annoyed tone as he followed his younger brother's lead. "What more do you want me to say? Can I help it if I became so busy I forgot about those papers? You try working for a department that thinks it's funny to swamp you with things to do every day."

With a roll of his eyes, the fox simply looked out the window as the train slowly moved away from the station. In a matter of seconds, they were travelling through the town of Mobius at a steady pace on their way to Station Square.

"…How long do you think it'll take for us to get there?" Sonic asked not even a minute into the ride. "I have until midnight to get all those papers in, but I don't want to cut it any closer than it already is."

"Provided that everything goes well, we should be there in about a couple of hours," Tails explained without tearing his gaze from the town zooming by. "And provided that there isn't some kind of high-profile-crime taking place, we should be back long before midnight comes around."

"That's good to hear," the hedgehog replied with a happy sigh as he relaxed into his seat. "Now I can finally relax and enjoy this train ride. I wonder how much better the food is in this premium economy seating upgrade. I'm sure that bar there isn't just for show and to falsely advertise the better accommodations."

Once he was fully situated on his comfy leather seat, the police detective allowed his eyes to scan his surroundings once more. This time, he seemed more curious at seeing what kind of people were riding along in the car with them. It was then that he noticed a couple of people a few seats away from him on the right side dressed in black suits with a suitcase resting beside the person he had a clearer view of. In the kind of environment they were in, the two looked rather out-of-place.

"Tails, don't you think those two behind you over there look kind of funny?" the detective asked as he tilted his head at said people. "They don't look like the type of people you'd see in this car."

"…I don't see anything off about them," the fox asked as he turned his head to see the aforementioned two. "They just look like a couple of people going to some business meeting. I mean, it looks like they're doing some of their work right now. I don't see anything wrong with that scene."

"Well, I guess I'm just saying that I know this particular train has a business class section built into it. They look pretty well off judging by their suits, so I just find it funny why they're riding here in premium economy."

"Perhaps they're just trying to save some money on the travelling and take the cheapest yet most comfortable accommodations for them. Think about it like that and they won't seem too off sitting in this car looking the way they do. Just don't think too much into it. Today's technically supposed to be your day off; forget about people you think are suspicious just because they're not riding in the part of the train you feel they should be in. That and it's really not a good basis for you as a detective to be suspicious."

"I suppose you have a point there. I shouldn't be so quick to jump to conclusions since I'm working with the police and all that. Then again, I've really taken the train while in the regular economy section. I guess being in a new environment doesn't really qualify me to be suspicious about people."

"Attention passengers," an announcer's voice was suddenly heard greeting the travelers over the intercom in her best welcoming tone. "Thank you for choosing to ride on the Mobius Express today. We have just left Mobotropolis Station and are now en route to Station Square. The weather there is currently at pleasant spring temperatures with no signs of rain throughout the day. Our estimated time of arrival is in about two hours at around one in the afternoon. A complimentary lunch will be served to all cars in about thirty minutes.

"Also, we ask that you please refrain from using your cell phones and laptops until we begin riding through Wi-Fi enhanced portions of the tracks," the announcer continued with the obligatory speech and explanations that had to be made at the beginning of train travels. "Most of the machinery on this train requires that the radio waves be free of any cell phone or computer interference to work at their maximum capacity. Thank you all for both your understanding and cooperation. We hope you'll enjoy your experience on this new train service."

"Oh yeah, I forgot that this is the new train they've been advertising on the news," Tails suddenly said. "The Mobius Express is the first non-express train to provide direct service from Mobius to Station Square without stopping at any of the in-between stations. I was wondering why the trip was only going to last two hours."

"But I thought they said it was going to allow full usage of cell phones during any leg of the trip," Sonic questioned with a thoughtful look on his face. "Did they end up scratching that idea somewhere along the line?"

"There was some issue with the project which caused the funding to be cut by a certain amount," the fox explained as he seemed slightly interested in the small condiment rack placed along the wall. "The benefactor felt that the construction was taking longer than expected and took out just enough money allocated to the project so as to prevent the Wi-Fi for being built into the train. I suppose the person had a good reason seeing as how the contractors did promise it'd be done by the time this year came around. There weren't any reported mishaps during the construction yet they still were four months late in completion. I guess the funder did kind of have a right to be a bit impatient and pull away some of his money."

"Eh, it's not like I really care about what the rich people are doing," the hedgehog simply said with disinterest. "I was just wondering why there was a big change like that. That and it doesn't really affect me that much since I don't have much reason to be making calls during these train trips.

"What I'm more interested in is what kind of food they're going to be serving in this new train," he added while happily patting his stomach. "They did say they were going to serve us a complimentary lunch in half an hour, so now's a good chance to see what they have to offer. And we're also seated in an upgraded version of economy class, so the train food should be better than what we're used to."

"It's nice to know some things don't change even when you're supposed to be dead," the other said in an annoyed tone while wearing an amused smile. "Seriously Sonic; couldn't you travel somewhere just this once without thinking about what kind of things you're going to eat along the way?"

Without answering, said hedgehog took a small placard placed among the condiments and saw that it was actually a small menu of what they were offering. With high expectations, he began reading the menu in search for anything that caught his eye. All the while, Tails settled on passing the time by staring back out the window that had now changed to a large and beautiful countryside scenery.


	6. Author's Note

Hello everybody! This isn't a new chapter or anything like that. In fact, it's just a little author's note as to the plans I have for this story.

As of now, I'm planning on reviving this forgotten story. However, I've kind of fallen out of sync with the story itself. As such, I'm going to be rewriting the entire story.

Now before any of you say anything, I'm not going to be starting it all from scratch. Rather, I'm going to be tweaking up the chapters in this story as they were made two years ago when my writing definitely had more room to grow on. It still does now, but I'm at least now armed with three years worth of college classes dedicated to writing stories. Hopefully, it will reflect on my rewrites and whatnot.

However, I'm going to be posting the rewritten chapters under a new story name. This will merely stay on here as reference for me as to what the chapters were because I've lost the original files. Actually, they were destroyed when my old flash drive literally fell apart and held files that weren't backed up yet. Just letting you all know that in case you're wondering why the original version of the story is still here while the rewrite is up.

When I have caught up on my rewrite from where I originally left off, that is when I'll delete this entire story. Until then, it's going to be staying up for just a little while longer. Just think of it this way; it will allow you as the reader to compare and contrast the different versions and see which one you like better. Naturally, I hope that you like my rewritten version better, but I would understand why some of you might like this old one more. After all, being attached to the original of something is quite understandable. I'm still attached to Sonic's first voice actor, Jaleel White, even after it's been well over ten years since Sonic Underground ended.

But yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say on this note. Sorry to all of you who have been waiting, patiently or otherwise, for an update to this story. I hope this doesn't pose too much of a disappointment, especially since I've announced plans on rewriting this entire story from the ground up. At least I haven't went so far in that it would appear redundant to redo the entire thing. Speaking of which, I still have that very old story, "The Core of Crisis", that's still being in the rewrite stage. I should probably consider picking up on that, as well.

I wish you all a happy new year and hope that you all played smart and safe. I know some of you probably had a few drinks and probably went behind the wheel. If that's you, shame on you! If not, then good on you. And then there's the matter of those who might ring in the new year with...innuendo-themed activities, but I won't go there. Just always make sure to be a good chap and use a wrap! ...Yeah, that was a very bad and cheesy rhyme, but hopefully it will serve as a easy reminder for any future hormonal escapades any of you might be planning on. Just consider this my version of an honest public service message and reminder to you all! ...Please don't throw large conjured balls of flames at me for it!

Now that I'm done with this and my version of a new years safety reminder, I'm going to go away now. Hope to see you all on my revamped version of this story as well as the other stories that I have on here that I will be updating!


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